I got my start in computer journalism back in 1986 when eWeek was called PC Week — I was part of the original launch team on its Connectivity section. Here is a short memorial to those early days. Here is my first bylined article for them on mainframe communications. And here is a description of how PC Week was my first breakout job. 

Here are articles from 1989 when we ran the first tests of different network topologies.

Here is a note about some of the people who I worked with when I was there and what they have accomplished since then.

Back then, PC Week was one of the flagship publications of Ziff Davis. Now it is part of Informa. Another stalwart was PC Magazine, I occasionally write stories for them. And Informa now owns the former CMP/UBM pubs.

During 2016, I wrote these stories for WindowsITpro, which is now called ITPro Today.

• Going beyond the password
• Microsoft ups its Azure security features 
• Choosing among various Slack-like communication tools
• The best tools to predict and manage cloud computing costs

Here are links to eWeek Labs stories:

• QualysGuard PCI scanner (10/21/10)
• Lumension Risk Manager review (5/28/10)
• SnartDeploy Eases Windows 7 migration (5/12/10) review
• Proofpoint makes encryption easier (4/21/10) review
• Hushmail for Business (4/15/10)  (slideshow of screenshots and review)

In 2006-8, I wrote a monthly column for eWeek’s Strategic Partner demographic about new technologies that the channel should keep an eye on. This content has been removed from the site.

• May 2008: Time to talk about tablets
• April 2008: Online backup for the channel
• March 2008: Server repurposing comes to the channel
• February 2008: Virtual processors
• January 2008: Real-time presence-aware applications
• December 2007: Virtual applications streaming
• November 2007: The resurrection of JavaScript
• September 2007: Towards better network applications intelligence
• August 2007: Five Microsoft technologies to watch for the channel
• July 20, 2007: How to sell IPTV
• July 12, 2007: Microsoft extends its Lending Reach
• July 11, 2007: SharePoint as your enterprise search app?
• July 11, 2007: Microsoft partner dashboard announcement
• June 25, 2007:Unified communications is the new frontier
• June 6, 2007: Changes to the Linksys channel program
• May 2007: Time is ripe for VARs to sell encryption
• April 2007: Where’s the Remote? (Web-based remote control)
• March 2007: Finding gold by using network discovery tools
• February 2007: Prepackaged Linux SMB servers
• December 2006: Selling managed SMB firewalls
• November 2006: IM Profits for VARs
• October 2006: The Asterisk VoIP ecosystem
• September 2006: Selling online storage/backup
• August 2006: Virtualization for VARs
• July 2006:Getting a lock on endpoints for the channel.
• June 2006: RFID the next old thing.
• May 2006: VARs, Pay Attention to SaaS

In addition to these columns, I also contributed to an online community called ITLink. This also has been removed from the site.

During 2007-8, I interviewed various industry luminaries about channel and technology issues called the “Channel Chat” podcasts.

• Mike Brunner, Wyse Technologies, Thin is in
• Chander Kant, Zmanda, Open source data backups
• Rich Bader, Easystreet Online Services, Building the Green Data Center
• David Goodman, IT manager, Third-world IT support
• Robert Packer, Presidio Networks, the challenges for selling to SMB customers
• Gregg Kalman, Meru Networks,Enterprise Wireless Channels
• David O’Berry, So. Carolina IT manager, on his predictions for 2008
• Jake Player, TechTurn, making money from recycled PCs
• Mike Adams,Lighthouse Computer Services, Picking the best storage vendor partners
• Mark Damphouse, Trinet Systems, Selling converged VOIP solutions
• Rob McKernan, APC, Power and cooling for the channel
• Michael Baum, Splunk, Data navigation by the numbers
• Wade Wyant, ITS, Selling Altiris managed desktop solutions
• Bob Longo, Clearpointe, Data-less data center
• Lane Smith, Do It Smarter, Selling managed services
• Bernard Larouche, Symantec, Endpoint protection channel opportunities
• Brian Gladstein, Bit9, Locking down your endpoints
• TM Ravi, Mimosa Systems, Discovering email all over again
• Neal Creighton, Ratepoint, Where your reputation preceeds you
• Rich Bader, Easystreet, Managed data center services
• John Powell, Virtela, Long distance carrier services
• Mikki Sandorfi, Sepaton, Data protection and backup
• Eran Farajan, Asigra, Managed backup services
• Marc Osofsky, Optaros, Open Source meets SaaS
• Vivek Khullar, DiVitas, The new breed of wireless VAR
• Jason Crea, Sitecore, The evolution of software plus services
• Chris Schwartzbauer, Shavlik Technologies, Four degrees of security VARs
• Ari Tammam, Promisec, “The importance of regular security audits”
• Deepak Thadani, Sysintegrators, “What VARs should know about firewalls”
• Steve Harvey, Digium, “How to become a VOIP VAR”
• John DiLullo, SonicWall, “Creating a Profitable Managed Services Offering”
• Karen Hartsell, PGP Corp., “Pretty Good Partner”
• Mark Eppley, “MobileMania”
• David Goodman, “When VARs don’t add value”
• Ann Revel-Pechar, “Can Resellers make online communities work?”